Inky ^beta

Pure still couldn’t figure out how to get rid of the demon plaguing him permanently. He would, however, cut the creature of blasphemy some slack for the time being, silent appreciation for his help in escaping the heavens. The demon made it hard to decipher what was the painful truth and what was lies and deceit; it was much simpler to believe that the demon did nothing but trick Pure into committing more sins, even if that wasn’t always the case.

”You have done well, mon ange..” The demon appeared before him again in all of his dreamy glory, legs crossed where he floated in the air. “Of course, we could have left much sooner.”

Much like the demon, Pure had unfinished business with him as well; left with about a million unanswered questions, he didn’t know where to begin interrogating his antithesis. “Je veux savoir.. Where do you get that big ego of yours?” He settled with an easier question for the calculated creature to answer.

”I guess you’ll just have to find out.” Pure grimaced as the demon instead blew him a kiss.

“..Can I ask you something?”

”Anything your heart desires.”

The angel went straight to the point, with a question that had been on his mind for much longer than most. “Do you feel everything I feel?”

Watching the demon hesitate was more unnerving than any of his witty remarks or the sly, untrustworthy grin that accompanied them. “..Oui. This body is mine as much as it is yours, despite what you wish to believe. Perhaps it’s your desire for more that awoke me.”

“Comment.. How do you possess such power over me?” Pure only felt that he should’ve been more frustrated than he truly was. “No demon should have such strength.”

The demon’s big smile returned, strange as it was for the facade of an angel to look so demented. Yet once again he seemed genuine, or at least a much better actor than Pure himself could ever be. ”You really are my favorite fool. You should know..-”

Divine light flooded his senses without warning. The heavens tore through it all; the demon, the serenity of his dreams, all of it was gone in an instant in favor of the archangels surrounding him and the weight that made him fall to his knees on artificial clouds. Pure’s instinct was to panic, flee even; yet he could do neither, for his body was frozen under the might of the higher ranking deities.

“We expected better of you.”

Pure’s eyes shot up to the voice; it was the very same angel that had assigned him to Brutal, now facing him with a scowl.

“You know better than this, child. Where does your faith lie?”

“To the lord, above all else.” Pure struggled to admit it; faltering only hurt his case. “I am so sorry, I will do better-”

“There is not much hope left for you, Pure..” The angel on his knees regretted glancing over at the disdain expressed by the other archangels surrounding him. “If you do not change your ways now-”

“Mais, archange grand.. Our father has always taught us to believe in forgiveness. Surely, I have not committed such a disastrous sin-”

“You are not to interrupt.” The higher angel hissed, halo radiating with his fury. “Where is your mask? That alone is a grave danger. Vanity is for the weak.”

As of recently, each time he was reminded of the missing mask he felt uncomfortably vulnerable; the more he thought about it, though, he had just as many questions as he did for the demon. “..Why must I wear it when no one else does?”

The archangel’s face dropped as if the question was absolutely preposterous. “You know it is not safe for mortals to see you like this.. I don’t know when, or why you’ve become so naive. But this path of sin will only destroy you from the inside. This ends now.. starting with your sleep. What compels you to do something so pointless, anyway?”

Pure couldn’t exactly answer that; his feelings towards Brutal had become an indescribable, inexplicable guilty pleasure.

“..Whatever. It needs to end. What would the lord think of this?”

I don’t care.

Though the demon was eerily silent, Pure could sense his lingering presence. The angels had, after all, quite rudely interrupted their moment; whether his thoughts were his own or his demented other half’s, he couldn’t tell.

“..I don’t know.”

“Poorly, I assure you.. Now, finish the job. Wake up.”

Pure wouldn’t have chosen to wake up in the dark of the night; he grumbled, a futile protest, though he was too afraid to fall back asleep and face the scrutiny of higher angels again.

”Do not listen to them, mon chou. Tu es trop beau pour eux.. And besides, you deserve to rest after all you’ve done for them.” The angel felt the demon’s nonexistent fingers run through his hair as he pried himself free from Brutal’s grip and sat up.

“Non.. un putain de pécheur comme moi est hideux.”

“Joli ange, non..” The fingers in his hair shifted to tilt his gaze in the freak’s direction. ”He certainly doesn’t think so. I am sure he will be searching for you the moment he realizes you are gone.”

Pure slinked in defeat off of the bed and towards his table, tracing Brutal’s carvings in his hands as he tried to occupy his thoughts. “May I ask you another question?”

”Of course.”

“What is your name?”

”I don’t..” The demon’s voice trailed off, like he was truly unsure. ”I suppose I haven’t given myself one yet. I am you, after all.”

“Oh, don’t be silly, you must have a name! You did not just possess me from nowhere..”

”Mon ange.. You are as dense as ever.”

“Ne m’irrite pas. Tell me your name.”

“Je te promets, I do not have one. We are one and the same.. Although, I am quite content to lack your foolish, holy charade.”

“Does that make me a fool, or does it make you impure, demon?”

”Impure..” He echoed the word back, accompanied with a low chuckle. ”Oui, I suppose it does.”

Sure enough, Brutal was searching near frantically for the angel as soon as he awoke to the morning sun. Pure hadn’t noticed of course, he’d taken to washing his face with the water from their bucket to clear his thoughts, which washed over the freak’s own worries with a wave of relief. “Mornin’.. You alright, sweetheart?”

“Oh- good morning. I..” The angel stood to face him, trembling all the way through the tips of his wings. “I have just been thinking, a lot.”

“‘Bout what? ‘M here, It’s nice ‘n early.” Brutal patted the mattress beside him and gestured for Pure to come over, to which the angel obliged and sank into the arm that held him.

“There will certainly be consequences for what I did in the lord’s realm. Not only did I leave for you, I..” He hadn’t stopped to think much of what he’d done to the other angel before he escaped until that night. “I won’t be forgiven. They will fly down from the heavens and strike me down with divine retribution, one day.” Pure idly- no, hopefully- laced his own fingers with the freak’s hand. “I am terrified.”

“Mm..” Brutal affirmed softly, pulling the angel in to kiss his cheek and lower to the crook of his neck as he tilted away. “They won’t, I won’t let ‘em. Promise. Hell, I already scared one of the big buggers away.”

“You.. what? Mon cher, you do not possess the power they do. They cannot simply be killed, as you know.” It all felt so wrong by logic, yet so right by what his heart desired; even so, the idea didn’t make him feel any less weak. “And, I am supposed to protect you, not the other way around.”

“I don’t think so, darlin’.”

“..Just because I am not as capable as you..” He sniffled back tears, hating the feeling of being so insignificant that he nearly gave up his only duty, to Brutal of all people. “Oh.. I cannot even convince myself.”

“That ain’t what I meant! I mean..-” Brutal recounted the words, how harsh they were: I knew that sending an experiment to get rid of you would be futile. Truthfully, he didn’t think Pure was ready to hear the truth. “..Forget about allat. I don’t take promises lightly. They won’t do shit.” He leaned in to kiss the angel again, hardly noticing until the deity was frazzled how close he’d lingered on his cheek towards Pure’s lips.

“C’mon, I don’t wanna see ya cry anymore. Yer stronger than any’a those weak minded pussies livin’ off a script.”

“Brutal..” He’d turned away, in part due to the burning red left behind on his cheeks from the kiss, though he didn’t break away from Brutal’s grasp.

“Yer different, ya broke away.. Yer bloody gorgeous ‘n strong, resilient as all hell- ‘n I love ya for it.” The freak’s hold turned into a big hug from behind, the final touch to put an inescapable smile on Pure’s face.

“Ma brute, oui, I..-” Once again, he couldn’t quite put his thoughts into words. Luckily this time, Brutal had redirected his attention.

“Hold on.” The freak leaned over to rummage under the bed, sifting through another lazy pile of weapons as the puzzled angel simply watched. “Here!” Brutal shot back up with a box, barely held together by heaps of tape that he offered to tear at for Pure with a stray dagger. “I wasn’t able ta give ‘em ta ya before cuz- y’know.. But I s’pose now’s a better time than ever.”

“Merci!” Pure cheered, tearing what remained of the fragile cardboard apart to retrieve the chocolate inside, surely the greatest gift the gluttonous angel could ever receive.

“One last thing..” He reached under the bed again, this time pulling a big, fuzzy- albeit poorly stitched- bear hide coat. “Ya like my vest a lot, figured I’d get ya somethin’ warmer for the winter. I know ya gotta be sick of that suit.”

Pure hardly noticed the poor stitches, and glossed over the patches of blood that remained; he wouldn’t have cared anyway, he was simply too flattered. “Oh, you are spoiling me!” The angel giggled to himself, tearing off the jacket of his own suit to replace it and standing up to twirl around in the new coat. “Ce manteau est parfait..” In his excitement he leapt back into the freak’s arms, tackling him against the shoddy mattress and laughing all the while; it was enough to catch even Brutal off guard, far from the angel’s usual composure. Then, the angel relented- really, couldn’t contain himself, giving the freak a kiss on the cheek with a glowing smile. “And, I am. It’s so warm.. I love it. How does it look?”

Brutal hadn’t heard enough to respond, or much of anything really; he couldn’t do much but stare, captivated by the angel in every way possible. It wasn’t just his beauty; that was long established, though it surely didn’t help that Pure had gotten rid of his mask. Long ago, Brutal would’ve sworn it was his sacred, devious duty to wrap the naive, insistently faithful angel around his finger and win him over with sin; now, the freak was sure he was the one wrapped around Pure’s finger. He would swear- and had sworn- up and down that he’d do anything to see that smile, the only sunshine he would ever need again. It felt like every instance of Pure losing his own faith was Brutal finding his own faith in being by the angel’s side; surely, this was heaven.

“Brutal?”

Even then he hadn’t stopped staring, eyes wide and enchanted. “Beautiful..” He reached up to twirl one of the angel’s blonde curls, before tucking it behind his ear. “Can’t believe yer mine.” As Brutal kissed his forehead, Pure seemed to regain his usual composure.

“I am..” He sang the sentiment back. “Merci, I feel better.” He couldn’t hold back from the taste of chocolate much longer, taking a bite as he spoke. “I must confess, I did not sleep.”

“No worries.. Wanna sleep in that?” Though he asked, the freak was already pulling them both back under the covers.

“Mhmm.. It is almost as warm as you.”

“Now I’m scared, ya get any more beauty sleep than this ‘n I might lose my mind.”

Pure giggled again. “Oh, stop it!”

Both of them laughed in harmony until the angel had calmed down again, melted in Brutal’s arms, finally reaching enough peace to fall back into slumber, no matter what he would face.

“Get all the rest ya need, love.. We’ve got a big day tomorrow.”

“Hm.. what is tomorrow?”

Pure could feel the grin on the freak’s face as he kissed his forehead. “Ya don’t remember? It’s Christmas, love.”